While it is true that in the eyes of God, no person, Christian, nor church is more important than any other person, Christian, or church, nevertheless we must distinguish between such entities in the study of history. In other words, one must conclude that among Scott County churches, the Baptist Church at the Great Crossing is first as to time, position, and members who not only made history but who set the economic and political patterns in the early days. The Baptist Church at Great Crossing, or at "the Big Crossings," as the pioneers called the large buffalo crossing on the North Elkhorn, was the first religious congregation established, in what was to become Scott County. The congregation was at first largely drawn from the adventurous settlers of Col. Robert Johnson's fort which overlooked a large spring and the buffalo crossing. The fort had been established in 1783 by Johnson and a group who had previously lived at Bryan Station. Most of these people were Baptists; some of them had been part of the Rev. Lewis Craig's Traveling Church which had set out on foot the winter of 1781 from Spotsylvania, Virginia. Many were related either to the Craigs or to the Johnsons, the two families which were early established as the main forces with which to connect or contend in Scott County.Families who initially settled Johnson's Station were those of Robert Johnson, Robert Bradley, William Shortridge, John Suggett, David Herndon, Thomas Herndon, James Sterrett and Stephen Lowry. Adding to the numbers were Henry Herndon, a single man, and "Widow" Herndon, mother of the Herndons. By 1785 the Baptists at Great Crossing were ready to establish a church, the year and half preceding having apparently been devoted to such necessities as warding off Indians, clearing fields, establishing boundary lines, building homes and barns, procuring crops, and setting up hunting expeditions.
On May 28 and 29, 1785, in an upper room of a house not far from the subsequent meetinghouse site, the home apparently of the Robert Johnsons, sixteen Great Crossings Baptists met to constitute a church. Adopting the Philadelphia Confession of Faith were charter members: William Cave, James Suggett, Sr., Robert Johnson, Thomas Ficklin, John Suggett, Julius Gibbs, Robert Bradley, Bartlett Collins, Jemima Johnson, Susanna Cave, Sarah Shipp, Caty Herndon (or Bohannon), Jane Herndon, Hannah Bradley, Betsey Leeman (or Lemon), and Betsey Collins. Clergy assisting were Lewis Craig, John Taylor, Richard Young, and Samuel Deadmon.
William Cave was a preacher, a moderator of the early Elkhorn Baptist Association, and a member of the Great Crossings Baptist Church until 1796.
The most prominent of the families represented among the charter members were the Johnsons. Robert and Jemima Suggett Johnson parented a prestigious collection of offspring, the most publicized of whom was Richard M. Johnson (1780-1850), who became the first native Kentuckian to serve in his state's legislature, in the United States Congress and Senate, and as Vice President of the United States (1836-1840). Richard M. Johnson led a unit of cavalry which defeated the allied British and Indians at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813; and became even more popular after seeing through Congress a bill which abolished imprisonment for debt. James Johnson (1774-1826) was known as the wealthiest man in Kentucky, the magnate of its stage coach and shipping industry, a contractor for the federal government, a manufacturer and miner; he served in Congress in 1825 and 1826. John T. Johnson (1788-1856) was an attorney, Congressman (1822-1824), appellate court judge, and from 1831 until his death, second only to Barton Warren Stone and Alexander Campbell as an evangelist of the Disciples of Christ.
The most exciting and controversial of the church's early pastors was Elijah Craig. Energetic and shrewd, Parson Craig came to what is now Georgetown in 1786 with a party of Virginia Baptists to establish a milling and manufacturing town. Craig is variously known as the establisher of Kentucky's first paper mill, ropewalk, fulling mill, and bourbon still. In 1788 he opened one of Kentucky's first classical academies on the banks of the Big Spring. His little town of Lebanon became Georgetown in 1790. His pastorate, the Great Crossing's Church's first official one, dates from 1786.
Craig's background as a preacher had included a stint in jail in Virginia. Baptized in 1766, he was ordained in 1771. In his famous History of Ten Churches, the Rev. John Taylor wrote of Elijah Craig: "Elijah was considered the greatest preacher of the three brothers, and in a very large association in Virginia, Elijah Craig was among the most popular for a number of years. His preaching was of the most solemn style, his appearance that of a man who had just come from the dead, of a delicate habit, thin visage, large eyes and mouth, of great readiness of speech? the sweet melody of his voice both in speaking and singing bore all down before it, and when his voice was extended, it was like the loud sound of a sweet trumpet. The great fervor of his preaching commonly brought many tears from his hearers, and many, no doubt, turned to the Lord by his preaching..." Taylor believed that Elijah's later problems evolved from "his turn to speculation."
In 1790 Joseph Reding moved to the Great Crossing vicinity and "at once became the most popular preacher in Kentucky." The majority of the church decided that they preferred him as their pastor to Elijah Craig. Bad feelings between the "Reding party" and the "Craig party" surfaced, and at a meeting in January 1791 in Robert Johnson's home, the Reding group excluded Craig from the pastorate. The next week the Craig party met and expelled the majority, after which the Reding group met and excluded the Craig minority. Peace was made in September, when Gov. James Garrard and a committee of the Elkhorn Association mediated the situation. The situation apparently came to an ultimate conclusion in 1795 when the McConnell's Run Church, which later became the Stamping Ground church, was organized with Craig as pastor.
While many secular sources have concluded that Craig was excluded because of his activity in distilling, this is an untrue assertion. Distilling was a respectable pioneer enterprise indulged in by most farmers as a source of income. Some clergy were paid in whiskey, which continued for several decades as an item for barter.
Reding continued as pastor until 1810. During his ministry the Great Revival occured, which revitalized the region's Christianity and resulted in the emergence of the Christian Churches and the coming to Kentucky of the Shakers. Characterized by emotion-laden camp meetings, the Great Revival was felt throughout all the area Baptists, according to Collins' History of Kentucky, "escaped almost entirely these extraordinary and disgraceful scenes.... The work among the Baptists was deep, solemn and powerful, but comporting with the decency and order so emphatically enjoined in the Scriptures."
Nonetheless, in 1800, 175 persons were baptized into the Great Crossing church. In 1801, 186 were added. The congregation became so large and widespread that it sponsored new churches. On February 7, 1801 twenty-seven members formed the Dry Run Church. On June 1, 1802, the Mountain Island Church on Eagle Creek in what is now Owen County was constituted. In September 1801, the North Elkhorn Church in the Lemon's Mill area was established; and in March 1805 the Long Lick Church had its inception.
The apocraphal growth was followed by a near decade of minimal activity, with only eleven persons being added to the church between 1801 and 1810. James Suggett, a noted character known to enjoy an exaggerated measure of hilarity when not in the pulpit, became pastor. Membership again accelerated, and Suggett's pastorate continued until 1826. It marked a period of sixteen momentous years which included the War of 1812, political ascendancy of the Johnsons, and the establishment of the Choctaw Academy on the nearby Blue Spring Farm of Richard M. Johnson.
The Kentucky Baptist Missionary Society had sought in the early nineteenth century to establish a mission among the American Indians. The goal took the form of a school for the education of Choctaw and other Southeastern United States Indian youth at some point distant from their homes. This point came to be the Blue Spring home farm of Richard M. Johnson. The Rev. Thomas Henderson became the academy principal was well as a pastor for the Great Crossing church. The school opened in 1819 and in 1825 the federal government began supporting it with a War Department grant of $6,000 a year. This early example of cooperation between church and state was relocated at White Sulphur around 1830 where it continued operation until about 1845. Indians attended the church, were baptized, and some became preachers.
Jacob Creath, Jr. served as pastor briefly in 1826, and for a period Thomas Henderson and John T. Johnson shared the pastorate.
In 1828 Silas M. Noel, editor of the Gospel Herald which he had established in Frankfort in 1813, and a leader in the establishment of Georgetown College, became pastor. This was a second great revival. In 1828, 359 converts were added; and by 1830 membership had grown to a record 588. This was also the era of the Alexander Campbell led "Reforming Baptist" movement. However, Great Crossing Church was only slightly affected as Reformer convert John T. Johnson in 1831 left the church with only three followers. Pastor Noel was a leader in the successful maneuvers to separate reformers from regular Baptist congregations. Johnson became a leading evangelist and organizer for the Christian-Disciples of Christ Churches, the new name of the reformers after their 1831-1832 merger.
Adison M. Lewis, the sixth pastor, served from 1834 until 1837. He was succeeded by James D. Black, whose productive pastorate concluded in 1841. Black later served the Stamping Ground church for thirty years. A double pastorate followed somewhat unsuccessfully, the principals being William G. Craig and Younger R. Pitts.
This was the period when Georgetown College was being rescued from its difficult first decade. Under the leadership of Dr. Rockwood Giddings, a dynamic preacher and former physician from Waterville, Maine, progress began. Great Crossing members generously joined the movement to endow the young college. In 1848 college president Dr. Howard Malcom assumed the pastorate of the church. He was succeeded by John L. Waller, William F. Broaddus, and A. R. Macey in the 1850-1853 period.
Another great Georgetown College president, Duncan R. Campbell, assumed the pastorate from 1853 until his death in 1865. Under his leadership, a revival in numbers, spirit and activity developed and the church became involved in home, foreign and Indian missions as well as the Bible cause. The congregation contributed no less than $7,165 to the college during this period.
Again a series of pastorates of short duration took place, with James D. Black filling out the remainder of 1865 until Cadwallader C. Lewis began his work which continued until 1870. S. P. Hogan succeeded him and served until his death early the next year. The Rev. Jonathan Goforth Bow was ordained and installed in June 1871. serving until January 1873 when he resigned to take care of the Midway Church, which had been constituted by the Great Crossing Church in June 1872. the seventh congregation traceable to the old mother church.
A third Georgetown College president, Dr. Basil Manley. Jr.. became pastor and served until 1877. J. M. Wells succeeded Dr. Manley and served until 1882. In November 1882 Dr. Richard M. Dudley, president of Georgetown College, assumed a year long pastorate.
Then came a pastor who was to serve for two decades, Rev. T. J. Stevenson. Called in 1883, he was pastor until 1904. In 1905 Brother E. G. Cottrell of Georgetown was called, receiving a salary of $360 for the year. He left in 1907 to continue studies at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville. Rev. A. Paul Bagby was called in 1907 at thirty dollars a month; he served for a year.
E. M. Harris was the pastor in 1910 when a committee raised funds to purchase a site and build a home for the pastor. The lot was located across the pike from the church and next to the schoolyard. The pastor resigned in 1912 to take a church in Virginia. O. M. Huey became pastor in late 1912, serving until 1913 when Brother J. S. Ransdell was called.
After Ransdell's ministry of four and one-half years. Brother A. J. Goodman was called, his brief ministry being cut short when a fatal illness struck him. The Rev. O. P. Bush began his pastorate in October 1918. By this time the church was operating on a systematic budget of seventy percent for the pastor's salary, fifteen percent for incidentals, and fifteen percent for mission and benevolences. The old schoolhouse lot was bought to enlarge the parsonage yard, and an endowment was raised for Christian education scholarships.
The historic old meeting house met its demise on March 11, 1923 when a tornado swept through the community, blowing off the church roof, cracking the walls and toppling the chimneys and an end gable. The building had stood since its beginnings in 1817 as a testimony to pioneer faith and fortitude. A heartbroken congregation set out to construct a new house of worship. Under the leadership of Brother Bush a building committee set to work a week after the tornado. Material was salvaged, loans were negotiated, and the cornerstone was laid on June 15, 1924. The first service was held February 15, 1925 without a resident pastor, as Brother Bush had left in November to assume another pastorate. The Rev. J. T. Neal was called in the summer of 1925; he was to serve until 1935 when the Rev. Cecil Erwin came to serve for seven years.
The Rev. Ellis M. Ham entered the service of the church in June 1943. By March 1945 the remaining $4,000 building debt was liquidated, with the three pastors who had served since the beginning of the new building participating in the services. Brother Ham, ordained in 1929, became president of Magoffin Baptist Institute in August 1948, a mountain school organized in 1905 which had grown to include ninety-six pupils in twelve grades.
On May 14, 1944 the church had the privilege of licensing Henry Walters, a sixteen-year-old neighborhood youth, to preach the gospel. Wrote Brother Ham, "He bids fair to become a good preacher. He has given himself unstintingly to the work of the church and has an undaunted zeal for the cause of Christ." In 1973 Henry Walters became pastor of his boyhood church.
Succeeding Rev. Ham in 1948 was Ralph R. Hensley. Charles L. Garringer's two-year ministry began in 1950 and he was succeeded by the Rev. E. E. Ham, under whom the educational building was constructed. This Rev. Ham was a nephew of the Rev. Mordecai Ham, to whom Billy Graham made his profession of faith. Dan Stone became pastor in 1956, and he was followed by Frank Rhodus who served for four years beginning about 1958. Eugene Reynolds then assumed pastoral duties for four years; and Albert E. Griffin, later pastor of Lexington's Porter Memorial Church, became Great Crossing's pastor in 1965. David Dunn assumed pastoral responsibilities in 1968, serving until Henry Walters came in 1973.
Various improvements to church facilities have occurred in recent years, including the refurnishing of the church with pews, carpet, and pulpit chairs, the air conditioning of the sanctuary, and the building of a kitchen, Working toward the church's 200th anniversary in 1905 has captured the attention of church historians, and Rev. Walters has worked with young people in providing a "parents' night out" with activities for children at the church.
It is significant that Scott County's first and oldest church is growing in strength 200 years later.
======== [From Ann Bolton Bevins & J. Robert Snyder, editors, Scott County (KY), Church Histories: A Collection, 1979, pp. 4-7. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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